Republican North Carolina House of Representative candidate and Gays For Trump leader Peter Boykin has objected to media reports that he is “transphobic” or “anti-trans” due to his stated opposition of allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military. That position puts him in line with President Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep trans people out of the armed services. 

Boykin has cited the cost of providing medical coverage to transgender soldiers, a relatively small amount, as well as claimed, without evidence, that transgender people are “mentally challenged” and might be dangerous to their fellow service members.

“People already have enough problems with PTSD, I don’t think it’s a good idea to give someone going through that type of change a weapon. They might snap and turn it on their fellow soldiers,” Boykin told The Daily Beast. He also

Boykin is now unhappy that those remarks have been picked up by numerous media outlets, and that he is being widely labeled as anti-transgender as a result.

Among the articles the candidate criticized on social media was one written by qnotes publishing partner The Charlotte Observer‘s Joe Marusak. That article was republished by qnotes, and it is that version Boykin tweeted out, criticizing it, alongside others, for picking up The Daily Beast‘s interview with him.

In that tweet, Boykin claimed The Daily Beast misquoted him.

This reporter asked Boykin over Twitter to identify the misquotes, but he failed to do so, instead criticizing the fact that the article was relying on previous reporting.

The article Boykin links to, on the Gays For Trump website, features a picture with his head Photoshopped over that of “Tank Man,” who bravely stood down tanks during the Tianamen Square protests in China in 1989, and is made up primarily of embedded tweets.

Related: Mayor Vi Lyles ‘very hopeful’ Charlotte will host Trump’s 2020 RNC

In one, he claims “the trans issue is not important to me,” and states that he once “fought my company to ensure that the trans woman they hired had a place to use the bathroom.” He later clarified that he meant he stuck up for her amid criticism from fellow employees.

In response to someone criticizing him for supporting a transgender woman, he calls her a “man (who) has chosen to live their life as a female.” 

“I think Trans people who live the actual life of one of the 2 genders they live every day should  be able to use the bathroom of which they look best the part,” he also wrote.

https://twitter.com/peterboykin/status/973413936342163456

“What I state about Trans Troops I understand is hard to hear, but its (sic) really nothing personal against Trans people. I am sure a few of them may be able to serve and probably serve well…and I commend them for their service,” he added.

“But banning all of them might not be the answer, I would assume we would have come to a compromise, I remember it was said and I believe it too that if a Trans person goes through the procedure on their own and the treatments, and transforms into who they want to be, then, by all means, reapply to the armed forces, BUT, if you are going to expect the US government to foot the bill or have to deal with your emotional changes, and you try to serve during that time…honestly, you are a liability,” he also stated.

Another tweet attempted to get the attention of fellow gay Republican Milo Yiannopoulos, a former editor at Breitbart who was let go over comments he made that were widely perceived as defending relationships between boys and adult men. Yiannopoulos has also made a number of disparaging remarks about the transgender community, whom he refers to with an anti-trans slur. 

Related: A Charlotte Cop thanked Milo Yiannopoulos for his posts following the police shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott

Boykin added that he doesn’t “get why so many on the left claim that President Trump is somehow anti-trans – whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.”

In addition to the transgender military ban, the Trump administration has also stated its support for employers who wish to fire transgender people based on their gender identity, stated it will no longer hear the civil rights complaints of transgender students, and created a new conscience and religious freedom division within the Health and Human Services Department to allow health workers to cite their religious beliefs to deny services to LGBTQ people and others. 

It has also indicated that it could soon reverse the policy allowing transgender inmates in federal prison to appeal to be housed based on their gender identity, and not the gender assigned to them at birth.

qnotes‘ attempts to interview Boykin have so far been unsuccessful. 

lgbt cities
Click to Shop LGBT Cities Apparel
Back to Top

Jeff Taylor / Social Media Editor

Jeff Taylor is a journalist and artist. In addition to QNotes, his work has appeared in publications such The Charlotte Observer, Creative Loafing Charlotte, Inside Lacrosse, and McSweeney’s Internet...